


Canis Lupus

by purplehawke



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, Awkward Flirting, Bad Puns, Drift Compatibility, F/F, M/M, Multi, Trans Characters, my entire ass
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-16
Updated: 2015-01-26
Packaged: 2018-03-07 19:01:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3179663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplehawke/pseuds/purplehawke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thank you sooo much to Samich for beta reading and fixing my abysmal grammar. Thanks to Milo for being an enabler. And thanks to all of draggy age twitter for being the  best part of the dragon age fandom</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Prologue I-The Start (Garrett)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you sooo much to Samich for beta reading and fixing my abysmal grammar. Thanks to Milo for being an enabler. And thanks to all of draggy age twitter for being the best part of the dragon age fandom

_“Marian. Marian what the hell are you doing?”  I look over at her on the other side of the cockpit. She’s closed her eyes tight and she wont move. “Marian! Snap out of it. Come on this is just a training exercise. What is going on with you?” I’m yelling at her, but she’s just shaking her head, not opening her eyes. I hear a frantic voice reading out our rapidly dropping sync rate. I think it’s Nate, but I’m not sure, because I can barely think through rising panic._

_“90% AND DROPPING, HAWKE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Aveline apparently took over the intercom. I don’t know which one of us she’s talking too but it doesn’t really matter. I feel a lurch in my stomach. I try to reach out to Marian again, try to form some kind of mental contact, but all I get is a wall keeping me out._

_Marian looks at me, her brown eyes finally opening. She looks scared and sad and she shakes her head._

_[Garrett I... I can’t please we need to go back in I can’t do this] I hear her voice in my head and feel something in my chest compress._

_[Hang on please, we can figure out how to do this. I can’t …. without you…] my thoughts trail off but I look into her eyes and sigh. “Aveline. Bring us in, we’re done for the day.” I say holding down the intercom button on my helmet. Someone on the other end tries to protest but within 5 minutes, we’re loading out of the Jaeger for the last time._

I can hear Marian and Isabela talking before I enter the room. It’s supposed to be mine. It technically still is, but Marian is in here almost more than I am these days. I open the door without announcing myself (why should I? It _is_ my room after all.) and am greeted by a sudden guilty silence. Nice.

Marian’s worried about me. She has been for a month. Really, I should be mad at her for leaving me without a copilot, but I can’t be. She had good reasons to quit, and I can’t blame her for it. She watches me come in and I give her a tired wave, and flop onto the twin sized bed tucked in the only corner of the room that isn’t covered in mountains of clothing and other various collections of my belongings. Isabela looks at me hopefully.

“So,” she starts, and I know her question before it’s out of her mouth. “How were the candidates? Anyone good?” She says it almost conversationally, but instead it comes out strained and forced, like she’s desperate for information, but is trying to hide it. I shake my head and throw my arms over my face, sinking into the mattress. She sighs and i groan in reply. Three weeks of trials, and not a single one of the cadets brought in have been anywhere near drift compatible with me. I’m antsy and itchy, and I want desperately to get back in our jaeger.

Well, just mine now, hat’s such an odd concept, I have trouble stomaching it. Marian and I piloted Red Raptor for 3 years. Our dad trained us together, and as soon as she was built, we were assigned to her at just 19 The idea of finding a new copilot is... scary. Or something. I’m not sure how to feel about it, but I’m definitely feeling something. Marian walks over and punches me in the arm lightly. “Don’t get too down on yourself Gare-Bear. You’ll find someone. You’re a star remember? four kills and three assists. Theres what, twenty more candidates? One of them is going to be the one.” I offer a weak smile.

“Actually, theres only ten left,” I say meekly “Although two of them seem more scared of me than any kaiju we’d have to go up against. Not exactly an ideal copilot.”

She sticks her tongue out at me.“I’m trying, you asshole.” She is. I appreciate it. She knows how much this is killing me, and between the stress of trials, the frustrating feeling of being unable to pilot, and leftover grief from Dad’s death 4 months ago, I’m not so sure what I’d do without her or Isabela.

I peel myself off the mattress and grab a semi-fresh shirt from a pile almost up to my knee (I’m gross, I know.). I fake glare at Marian and point to the door. “Now go hang out in your own damn rooms for once. If you don’t I’m going to change right in front of you and your girlfriend, and both of you will get an eyeful of my absolutely glorious boobs.” She laughs and drags Isabela (who is furiously wiggling her eyebrows) out into the hall. A small smile creeps across my face, and I shake my head.They’re so sweet. I can’t think of anyone else I know who could tease me as much as they do and still manage to make me feel 1000000 times better at the same time.

After a quick shower, I head down to the dining hall where I notice Anders, the resident CMO and the most exhausted man I’ve ever met, and Justice, a kaiju specialist and Anders’ frustrating older brother, engaged in a heated debate which appears to be about whether cats can be therapy animals or not. Merrill, Isabela’s copilot and possibly the most adorable person I know, is talking to Nathaniel Howe, the chief local comand center (LOCCENT) officer, about something involving a lot of blood I don’t really care to know about. Instead, I slide into my normal seat next to Anders and wave at him. He flashes a quick smile back .He looks about as haggard as ever, but heres something in his eyes thats... different? He looks excited but tense. I can’t put a finger on it. Hmmm.

“So, I take it you don’t have a new copilot?” He asks when he’s given up trying to explain the benefits of feline companionship to Justice. I roll my eyes and another groan escapes me as I dump salt on my mashed potatoes. That’s Anders, always asking the bluntest question. As tactful as a kaiju, really.

“Not even remotely.” I say through a mouthful of admittedly over salted potato. In fact, today’s trials were the worst so far. One cadet got so startled when I broke through his defense that he actually hit himself in the face with his bo staff (It wasn’t that bad, until I accidently giggled, earning me a glare from the psych analyst, Cassandra Pentaghast, that could probably kill plants and/or men). I relay the terrible session to Anders as the rest of our usual dinner table files in.

Theres 5 Jaegers active at this base, and all of the pilots eat at the same table. Marian and I are the most accomplished, and among the youngest. We’re kind of famous. That’s just what happens, I guess. Merrill and Isabela and their jaeger, Lady Veridian, became pilots while Marian and I were still in training. They’re not related and not in any way romantically involved, which is kind of unusual for pilots as good as they are. They’re wicked fast and about as stealthy as a giant metal robot designed to kill huge sea monsters can be. Marian and Isabela have been dating for about 2 years now, and they’re practically family.

Alistair Theirin and his wife Sonia Surana have been here the longest. They’ve been piloting Grey Warhound for almost 6 years, despite being only a few years older than Marian and I.They’re not only great pilots, but also some of the damn nicest people I’ve ever met. And how could I forget to mention their dog, Millie, who is both their unofficial mascot and my official best friend.

Krem Aclassi and The Iron Bull (yeah. I know.) pilot Steel Charger and somehow manage to be incredibly nice and incredibly irritating at the same time. They’ve built some sort of cult following over the past couple of years, due to Charger being the only jaeger with massive horns and probably also due to Bull being one of the largest men I have ever seen in my life. They throw a lot of parties and are sometimes infuriatingly cocky in and out of battle, but I like them. They’re good guys, they care a lot about each other, and despite appearances, they don’t just pilot for the publicity.

Dorian Pavus and Anden Lavellan are the newest pilots and the most inexperienced, with no kills and three assists, but they’re great pilots. They started off a bit rocky, but they started dating a few months back and whatever heart to heart chat they had somehow gave them the boost they needed. When my dad met them, he said they could be some of the best if they “got their heads out of each others asses and stopped trying to start a dance off with the kaiju instead of hitting it.” He’d be proud of them, I think.

Tonight, there’s some kind of strange unidentifiable buzz over the regular chatter of the dining hall, which is probably the cause of Anders’ strange excitement. I’ll ask him after dinner. For now, he’s trying to tell Bull why drinking 7 glasses of milk in under a minute is a terrible idea, which isn’t a conversation I feel like being involved in. Isabela leans in towards me and props her elbow on my shoulder.

“Did anyone tell you about the new pilot?” she asks, grinning conspiratorially. I raise my eyebrow at her.

“What new pilot? Who are they?” I’m surprised nobody mentioned this to me. You’d think the guy without a copilot would be the first to know about a new pilot.

Isabela grins at me and there’s something vaguely evil in the way her eyes glint. Uh oh. “Oh my god, really? You don’t know? Oh, this is so great. Okay, well... So there was some issue with his copilot and apparently Fenris Leto is now solo and getting here next month with Canis Lupus.”

I nearly drop my fork.“Holy shit!” I say, louder than I meant to, and get some dirty looks from a few people at the k-science division table. “Wait. How?! Are you joking? You have got to be fucking joking.”

Fenris Leto, one of the most elite pilots in the world. He and his copilot Danarius (no last name. Just Danarius. Jaeger pilots like to think they’re rock stars) have 8 kills and 5 assists in a 5 year career. They’re a dream team, with more kills than anyone in history, and Canis Lupus is one of the most advanced jaegers out there. But if Fenris is here alone, what happened to Danarius?

“Apparently there was some falling out and Dan got discharged from the program.” Isabela says, maybe reading my mind. “From what I heard, he was doing some shady shit, but I don’t know specifics. It’s probably all lies. For all I know, he just got tired of being cooped up in a giant metal box and smelling like gasoline and moved to a different country.”

Anders suddenly materializes next to her. “I’m not supposed to give specifics yet, but Bela’s right. Fenris apparently told the commanders where he was stationed before about some things Dan did and he got the boot the next day. He’s been out of the conn-pod for about a month now on leave. He’s looking for a new copilot.” He looks very pointedly at me as he says the last sentence.

And that exact moment feels like the beginning of something.


	2. Prologue II: Welcome to Kirkwall (Fenris)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fenris leaves Minrathous

_I’m Floating, I think. Floating or flying or something like that. I can’t feel my arms or legs and I’m caught somewhere between being in and out of the drift._

_Not floating. Drowning._

_“Shitting christ… Fenris! Wake up!” I hear someone yelling at me and the dreamy feeling of being too far inside a memory ripples around the edges before falling away and I’m lying on my back on the conn-pod floor with Danarius shaking my shoulders and shouting at me._

_“Urrgg…. what happened?” I groan, sitting up as a group of med team people start swarming in through the open hatch. I’m shaking and something about the way Dan is grabbing onto me is making me nervous._

_“You threw us off!” he let’s go of my shoulders, shoving me back onto the ground. This is not good. He’s angry. Dan has a temper, everyone knows that, but he never shows his full anger in front of anyone else. “What the fuck were you doing in there?! Do you think you can just fuck around like that?! You could have pulled me in, too!” he grabs the front of my chestplate hard, pulling me up to face him._

_“I’m sorry, I…” I try to push him off but he regrips and shakes me harder, cutting me off. There’s med team people pressing in trying to tell him to calm down, but it won’t work. His anger is poisonous, and trying to interfere will only spread the poison more. “Dan! Please I didn’t mean to! Please just- ARGH!”_

_My begging is scilenced again. I feel his fist collide with my cheek. His gloves are still on, and the plate on the back of his hand catches on my cheekbone and cuts into my face. The med team is rushing in now, grabbing at him, dragging him off of me, pulling me out of the conn-pod. I’m only dimly aware that I’m falling before everything fades to black around me._

_**........** _

The morning I arrive at the Kirkwall shatterdome, it’s cold and icy, but the sun is beating down and making every patch of snow on the tarmac glitter. If the few trees surrounding the building weren’t so bare and skeletal, and the air didn’t feel like it had thousands of tiny, angry teeth, you could almost mistake it for summer.

It’s been two months since Danarius was kicked out of the program. Two months since I’ve been in a jaeger. It’s been long enough. I’m starting to get edgy and anxious to drift again, and beyond that I need to separate piloting from Dan. I used to live for it, until Dan started using what he saw in my head against me. I need to believe that I can find someone who won’t do what he did.

Officially, I got the choice to continue piloting, but I don't think it was ever really my decision. The med team in Minrathous didn't ask me if I though I could still pilot, they asked when I would be able to do it again. Two months leave and a psychological examination was the all I got in the end, but I'm not complaining. I was the one who decided to go to Kirkwall, though. If I had stayed in Minrathous, I'm not certain I would have been able to keep myself from breaking down. Here, I have a totally clean slate.

An imposing redheaded woman marches up the runway. She’s tall, muscular, and has the look of someone who’s used to being listened to. I recognize her. Marshal Aveline Vallen. I stand up a little straighter when I realize who she is. I’m here to meet her, and she has a reputation for being tough as nails.

Behind her is a man I also recognize from TV reports, training videos, and, unfortunately, trash tabloids. He’s very tall, wide, with thick arms and a deep, instantly noticeable scar running across the bridge of his nose. He would be intimidating if he didn’t look so nervous. His brown eyes scan the area, like he’s expecting someone very important to shoot out from behind a crate and scold him. His dark hair and beard are messy and windblown, and his hand are stuffed deep in his pockets. Garrett Hawke, star jaeger pilot, notorious for bad puns and awkward interviews, and, possibly, my new copilot.

Marshal Vallen gestures for me to walk towards them, pulling her long coat tighter across her chest, shielding herself from a gust of icy wind. I hurry over, wishing I had worn more layers. It was 70º when I left Minrathous, honestly, how was I supposed to know Kirkwall was so damn cold?

“Ranger Leto,” she says, scanning me up and down, “Welcome to Kirkwall.” She gestures at the general surrounding area before remembering how cold it is and swiftly pulls her coat back around herself. Hawke chuckles.

“More like Coldwall. Get it because… It’s… nevermind” Marshal Vallen shoots him a glare and he blushes and looks around for something else to comment on. finally, he puts out his hand. “Garrett Hawke.” he says smiling crookedly. “Sorry, I can’t promise that’s the worst joke you’ll hear out of me.” I take his hand and shake once. He grins.

“Fenris Leto.” I say, and smile a little bit back. “Is it always this cold here or am I just very unlucky?” He laughs out loud before the Marshal elbows him in the ribs, then he giggles quietly to himself. They seem close, almost like family, and I get the impression that he’s always this much of a pain in her ass.

“Anyway,” the marshal says, rolling her eyes, “You and Hawke will be evaluated for compatibility tomorrow morning in the kwoon at 10:00 AM sharp. If you are compatible, we’ll need to figure out which of your jaegers you’ll be piloting.” She pauses to shiver, and readjust her coat. “For tonight,” she continues, “Fenris, you can get to know everyone, explore the base, get settled in. Good luck, Ranger.” She smiles quickly  and turns, leaving me and Hawke shivering on the runway.

“So,” Hawke says abruptly, turning towards me and rubbing his hands together in attempt to keep them from freezing. “Now that you’ve been frostbitten, i suppose I should make it up to you somehow. C’mon. I’ll give you a tour.” He beams and motions for me to follow, and I feel myself smile back. “I assume you’re used to the usual shatterdome activity by now.” He shouts over his shoulder, battling a gust of wind. “So. That should make this a much less complicated tour. I hope you’re not afraid of dogs.”

“I … What?” I yell back, and he either doesn’t hear or chooses to ignore me as he wrenches the steel door to the shatterdome open. Almost as soon as the door is fully open, I catch a glimpse of a blurry brown mass of fur, and suddenly Hawke is on the ground wrestling one of the largest dogs I have ever seen in my life.

“Hello! Hi girl, yes I know, it’s been so long. Ten minutes feels like an age.” Hawke laughs, standing up again, scratching the very enthusiastic dog’s head. “This is Milie.” He says, turning to me, his face and beard a little slobbery. “She’s a big weenie. She also likes kisses.” Millie headbuts his leg and he reaches down to rub behind her ear. I give a small laugh and Hawke grins at me.

He leads me past the door, Millie panting alongside him, obviously very interested in this new and exciting guest. Hawke gestures around at the huge room dramatically. It’s similar to the old base, but something about it is somehow friendlier. J-tech teams dart around with tools and jaeger parts, chatting animatedly with each other. A guy amongst a group of med team officers waves to Hawke as he leads me by. There are 5 jaegers all lined up in a semicircle inside the cavernous main area. People chat as they work, and instead of the forbidding loudness of the Minrathous shatterdome, it’s a comfortable chaos. “Ta-da” Hawke says with a flourish after a few seconds of silence to let me take in the sights. “Welcome to Kirkwall, Fenris.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Fenris and Garrett drift for the first time
> 
> I'm sorry these prologues are so short. The main chapters will me much longer I promise :)  
> I don't know if I mentioned this in the last chapter, but Fenris, Garrett, and Isabela are all trans in this fic. I'll talk about that more in later chapters though.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fic so I'm very nervous about how this will go. I'm having a lot of fun, and I hope you all enjoy.  
> Next chapter will be part 2 of the prologue, told from Fenris' POV, and we'll get some introduction to The Devil Himself (Danarius)


End file.
